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People - v. - Dadulla - y - Capanas PDF
People - v. - Dadulla - y - Capanas PDF
DECISION
BERSAMIN , J : p
A rapacious father who vented his lust on his own daughter without any qualms
is allowed to suffer the lesser penalty because of the failure of the criminal information
to aver his relationship with the victim. Even so, the Court condemns his most
despicable crime. HTASIa
The father is now before the Court to assail the decision promulgated on January
20, 2006 in C.A.-G.R. CR.-H.C. No. 01021, whereby the Court of Appeals (CA)
pronounced him guilty beyond reasonable doubt of simple rape in Criminal Case No.
98-2304, imposing reclusion perpetua, and of acts of lasciviousness in Criminal Case
No. 98-2305, thereby modifying the sentences handed down by the Regional Trial Court,
Branch 272 (RTC), in Marikina City. 1
The Charges
On January 28, 1998, the accused was charged in the RTC with rape and
attempted rape through separate informations, as follows:
Criminal Case No. 98-2304-MK
That on or about the 15th day of January, 1998 in the City of Marikina,
Philippines and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named
accused, by means of threats, force and intimidation, did then and there willfully,
unlawfully and feloniously have carnal knowledge with AAA, 2 against her will
and consent. 3
II.
SO ORDERED.
The CA held that the correct penalty in Criminal Case No. 98-2304-MK was
reclusion perpetua because the accused was liable only for simple rape by virtue of the
information not alleging any qualifying circumstances; and that in Criminal Case No. 98-
2305-MK the accused was guilty only of acts of lasciviousness, not attempted rape,
because his act of opening the zipper and buttons of AAA's shorts, touching her, and
pulling her from under the bed constituted only acts of lasciviousness.
Ruling of the Court
We sustain the conviction but correct the award of civil liability.
I
Criminal Liabilities
The CA correctly determined the criminal liabilities in both cases.
To begin with, the nding and conclusion of the RTC that the totality of the
evidence presented by the State painted a convincing tale of AAA's harrowing
experience at the hands of the accused are well founded and supported by the records.
Her unwavering testimonial account of the bestiality of her own father towards her
re ected her singular reliability. The CA's holding that a woman would think twice
before concocting a story of rape unless she was motivated by a desire to seek justice
for the wrong committed against her 1 8 was apt and valid. Indeed, her revelation of
being sexually assaulted by her own father several times could only proceed from
innate sincerity, and was entitled to credence in the absence of strong showing by the
accused of grounds to disbelieve her. Also, her immediate willingness to report to and
face the police investigation and to undergo the trouble and humiliation of a public trial
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was a badge of trustworthiness.
Secondly, the failure to allege the qualifying circumstance of relationship in the
information in Criminal Case No. 98-2304-MK precluded a nding of quali ed rape
against the accused. Section 8, 1 9 Rule 110 of the Rules of Court has expressly required
that qualifying and aggravating circumstances be speci cally alleged in the
information. Due to such requirement being pro reo, the Court has authorized its
retroactive application in favor of even those charged with felonies committed prior to
December 1, 2000 (i.e., the date of the effectivity of the 2000 revision of the Rules of
Criminal Procedure that embodied the requirement). 2 0 SaHTCE
Q: While you were sleeping in the evening on January 22, 1998, do you
recall of any instance (sic) or incident which awakened you?
Witness:
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Again Miss Witness, tell us this incident that you are referring to?
Q: And upon noticing that the zipper and the buttons of your short[s]
are already loosened or opened, what did you do?
Q: Like on January 15, 1998, you slept, on January 22, 1998, you slept
side by side with your brothers and sisters and your father?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Did you notice the presence of your father when you said
you were awakened on that night?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: What was he doing?
Q: Did you not ask your father to leave because you do not
want to see him?
A: I told him.
Q: Did your father leave?
A: No, sir.
And, fourthly, the indeterminate penalty imposed by the RTC was erroneous for
not being in accord with the Indeterminate Sentence Law. This impelled the CA to revise
the indeterminate penalty, rationalizing:
Under Article 336 of the Revised Penal Code, the penalty for acts of
lasciviousness is prision correccional. We impose the penalty in its medium
period, there being no aggravating or mitigating circumstance alleged and proved.
Applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, the proper penalty imposable is from
six months of arresto mayor, as minimum, to four years and two months of
prision correccional, as maximum. 3 0
We uphold the revision by the CA. The RTC xed the minimum of the
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indeterminate penalty from within prision correccional, when Section 1 3 1 of the
Indeterminate Sentence Law expressly required that the minimum "shall be within the
range of the penalty next lower to that prescribed by the Code for the offense." The
penalty next lower is arresto mayor.
II
Civil liability must be modified
Under Article 2230 of the Civil Code, 3 2 the attendance of any aggravating
circumstance (generic, qualifying, or attendant) entitles the offended party to recover
exemplary damages. Here, relationship was the aggravating circumstance attendant in
both cases. We need to award P30,000.00 as exemplary damages in rape and of
P10,000.00 as exemplary damages in acts of lasciviousness.
Although, as earlier mentioned, an aggravating circumstance not speci cally
alleged in the information (albeit established at trial) cannot be appreciated to increase
the criminal liability of the accused, the established presence of one or two aggravating
circumstances of any kind or nature entitles the offended party to exemplary damages
under Article 2230 of the Civil Code because the requirement of speci city in the
information affected only the criminal liability of the accused, not his civil liability. The
Court has well explained this in People v. Catubig : 3 3
The term "aggravating circumstances" used by the Civil Code, the law not
having speci ed otherwise, is to be understood in its broad or generic sense. The
commission of an offense has a two-pronged effect, one on the public as it
breaches the social order and the other upon the private victim as it causes
personal sufferings, each of which is addressed by, respectively, the prescription
of heavier punishment for the accused and by an award of additional damages to
the victim. The increase of the penalty or a shift to a graver felony underscores
the exacerbation of the offense by the attendance of aggravating circumstances,
whether ordinary or qualifying, in its commission. Unlike the criminal liability
which is basically a State concern, the award of damages, however, is
likewise, if not primarily, intended for the offended party who suffers
thereby. It would make little sense for an award of exemplary damages
to be due the private offended party when the aggravating
circumstance is ordinary but to be withheld when it is qualifying.
Withal, the ordinary or qualifying nature of an aggravating
circumstance is a distinction that should only be of consequence to the
criminal, rather than to the civil, liability of the offender. In ne, relative
to the civil aspect of the case, an aggravating circumstance, whether
ordinary or qualifying, should entitle the offended party to an award of
exemplary damages within the unbridled meaning of Article 2230 of the
Civil Code.
That People v. Catubig was subsequent to the dates of the commission of the
crimes charged did not matter. Like any other judicial interpretation of an existing law,
the ruling in People v. Catubig settled the circumstances when Article 2230 of the Civil
Code applied, thereby re ecting the meaning and state of that legal provision. The
retroactivity of the ruling vis-à-vis the accused could not be challenged or be barred by
virtue of its being civil, not penal, in effect.
WHEREFORE , the Decision promulgated on January 20, 2006 in CA-G.R. CR-H.C.
No. 01021 is a rmed in all respects, subject to the modi cation that the civil liabilities
include P30,000.00 as exemplary damages for the rape (Criminal Case No. 98-2034-
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MK), and P10,000.00 as exemplary damages for the acts of lasciviousness (Criminal
Case No. 98-2035-MK).
SO ORDERED .
Carpio Morales, Brion, Peralta * and Villarama, Jr., JJ., concur.
Footnotes
*In lieu of Justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno who is on leave per Office Order No. 944 dated
February 9, 2011.
1.Rollo, pp. 3-14; penned by Associate Justice Marina L. Buzon (retired), with Associate Justice
Aurora Santiago-Lagman (retired) and Associate Justice Arcangelita Romilla-Lontok
(retired), concurring.
2.Pursuant to Republic Act No. 9262 (Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of
2004), and its implementing rules, the real names of the victims, as well as those of their
immediate families or household members, are withheld and instead fictitious initials
are used to represent them, to protect their privacy. See People v. Cabalquinto, G.R. No.
167693, September 19, 2006, 502 SCRA 419.
28.People v. Mendoza, G.R. Nos. 152589 and 152758, January 31, 2005, 450 SCRA 328, 333.
29.Supra, note 28.
30.Rollo, p. 15.
31.Section 1. Hereafter, in imposing a prison sentence for an offense punished by the Revised
Penal Code, or its amendments, the court shall sentence the accused to an indeterminate
sentence the maximum term of which shall be that which, in view of the attending
circumstances, could be properly imposed under the rules of the said Code, and the
minimum which shall be within the range of the penalty next lower to that prescribed by
the Code for the offense; and if the offense is punished by any other law, the court shall
sentence the accused to an indeterminate sentence, the maximum term of which shall
not exceed the maximum fixed by said law and the minimum shall not be less than the
minimum term prescribed by the same. (As amended by Act No. 4225)
32.Article 2230. In criminal offenses, exemplary damages as a part of the civil liability may be
imposed when the crime was committed with one or more aggravating circumstances.
Such damages are separate and distinct from fines and shall be paid to the offended
party.
33.G.R. No. 137842, August 23, 2001, 363 SCRA 621, 635 (bold emphasis supplied).